Rearming Race In Mideast
Pastor Dale Morgan
Rearming Race In Mideast*
Feb 23rd, 2007 9:24 AM
by Joshua Brilliant
UPI Correspondent
Tel Aviv (UPI)
Six months after the attacks against Lebanon, Syria, Hezbollah and
Israel are all beefing up their forces, preparing for another round of
hostilities though none seem imminent. The Haaretz newspaper reported
Thursday that the Syrian armed forces "are being strengthened in an
unprecedented way in recent memory." The emphasis is on bolstering its
missile and long-range rocket capability, the newspaper said.
The Syrians recently test-fired two Scud-D ballistic missiles whose
range would reach most of Israel. Syria has also shorter range rockets
and supplied many of them to the Lebanese Hezbollah (that fired 4,000
rockets during the war).
"The missiles and rockets are part of an effort to compensate for the
obvious weakness of the Syrian air force. This way Syrians could strike
Israeli cities and also carry out accurate attacks against military
targets inside the country," Haaretz' defense expert Zeev Schiff wrote.
"Information received in Israel recently" says that Damascus is about to
conclude a deal underwhich it would buy thousands of advanced Russian
anti-tank missiles, Haaretz added.
Earlier shipments of Kornet AT-14 and Metis AT-13 anti tank missiles to
Syria were passed on to Hezbollah and some penetrated the armor of
Israel's most advanced tanks, the Markava Mark IV. Schiff did not
identify his sources. However his report, and another on Hezbollah's
buildup by Yediot Aharonot's military commentator Alex Fishman,
immediately followed a militay intelligence briefing to the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
According to intelligence leaked to Yediot Aharonot, Hezbollah has more
than 10,000 short range rockets in southern Lebanon and more are being
smuggled from Syria. The Lebanon war proved that a continuous barrage of
such rockets has a strategtic impact. According to Yediot Aharonot's
sources, Hezbollah realized that its daily barrage of 250 rockets was
insufficient and it would like to double or treble that number.
Some weapons reach Hezbollah from Iran via Syria. The shipments are
flown to Syria through Turkish airspace and the Israelis suspect some
are transported by trucks, also via Turkey. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert raised the matter in his talks in Ankara last week and his
interlocutors maintained they were not aware of it, a senior official on
Olmert's plane told United Press Internatrional. Olmert intends to
pursue the matter.
Retired Maj. Gen. Yaakov Amidror, who headed a team that investigated
the military intelligence performance before and after the war, told UPI
the weapons reach Hezbollah, "Slowly so as not to worsen the
atmosphere." The shipments violate the United Nations' Security
Council's resolution, he noted.
Hezbollah needs, however, time to recruit new people and train them,
sometimes in Iran. It is returning to southern Lebanon but is keeping a
lower profile, in civvies, he said. According to Yediot Aharonot
Hezbollah is gradually rebuilding its bunkers, rocket launching sites
and command and control centers. However with the reinforced UNIFIL
peacekeepers around, and the Lebanese army troops reaching the Israeli
border, Hezbollah has more difficulties gathering intelligence on
Israel. One of the consequences of last year's war is that Israel's
deterrence has been eroded. Amidror said the Syrians "have begun
thinking that perhaps it is possible to fight Israel."
Moreover, Iran whose help to Syria had been "minor," is now willing to
provide "more significant help." Teheran changed its attitude because it
is facing the United States, Amidror said.
However, Syria's significant missile buildup still does not alter some
basic flaws in its air and armored forces, he continued.
Defense experts do not expects new hostilities in the spring or summer.
The head of the Defense Minister's Diplomatic-Security Staff, Maj. Gen.
in the reserves Amos Gilad, said Thursday there were no signs of any
Syrians or Hezbollah preparations for attack in the coming months.
Once Hezbollah resumes provocations, however, "we shall have to take the
Syria army's capabilities into account," Gilad said. Syria "is building
its forces for the long run," he added.
The Israeli military has meanwhile analyzed its mistakes during the war,
the chief of general staff and two other generals resigned, Israel is
acquiring more military hardware and enhancing the capabilities of its
Arrow anti-ballistic missile that should stop the Syrian Scuds and
Iranian Shehabs.
One of the main flaws discovered in the last war was that its army
hasn't trained properly because so much effort was invested in policing
the occupied territories.
That too is changing. This week the paratroop brigade had an extensive
exercise on the Golan Heights, a possible battlefield with Syria. For
five years there hasn't been such an exercise and some of the army's
senior commanders lacked experience in managing big forces.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who watched those maneuvers, said
described them as, "a very significant beginning of implementing the
army's work plan for 2007 that focuses on training the standing army and
later the reserves."
Peretz seemed to have a problem at one point in that exercise. Yediot
Aharonot Thursday ran on its front page a picture in which Peretz
observed a maneuver through binoculars. It was a typical picture of a
commander in a military setting but his lenses had the covers on.